Byte: FreeBSD vs Linux Revisited

Beerwolff writes: "This time I have remembered the link to the Byte article that's a follow-up to two of Moshe Bar's previous articles comparing FreeBSD and Linux--This time with the new Linux VM. His Apache "results show that Linux is better at handling I/O cache than FreeBSD, and that FreeBSD is more efficient at building up and tearing down processes."" As usual, please take benchmarks with a grain of salt, caveat emptor, look before you leap, and so forth.

Comments

I made the switch

[The Ape With No Name]

We just switched our email, file and http/servers to FreeBSD. Why? Mandrake had become a horrid mess of dependencies and package problems. Building from source (painstaking and too labor intensive for a one person admin team) had become frustrating. The machines were inherited and had never had any documentation and administrative control. I got three machines to replace them (white boxen) and started fishing for what OS to put on them. Initially, I thought, well, Mandrake8.1. I did a test install. Gigs and Gigs and Gigs of useless crap and a horrible package management system to boot. Selecting packages individually took time I didn't have. I knew I needed samba, sendmail, ftp and apache (sshd too). An admin in another department suggested Debian. But (let me put my flamesuit on), another guy said "if you are going to use Debian, why not just install FreeBSD." I did a test install. 1 hour later, I had samba cooking and talking to our Win2K DC. I was sold. This after using Linux for 6 years. I wouldn't say "I saw the light" but as far as clean and Unixy goes, it doesn't get any more so than FreeBSD. I am interested in hearing horror stories about FreeBSD, cuz so far I am very impressed.